Posted: March 9, 2010 |(0) Comments

Homestead gymnastics

Katelyn Wright took second in floor exercise and was fourth on balance beam, while teammate Cori Sanduski was fifth on beam, as the Highlanders' season came to a satisfying conclusion last weekend in the WIAA State Meet in Wisconsin Rapids.

The three medal-winning efforts came in Friday's individual competition. On Saturday, the pair helped the Highlanders to a seventh-place showing in the 10-school team event.

It was the last meet for coach Marisa White, who is leaving Wisconsin and joining her husband in California in about a week. She couldn't have been happier with the effort.

"Just very proud of the girls," she said. "The team event on Saturday was very special. The floor exercise was a great start for us and I think for the first time this season, every girl hit that first big pass."

"As soon as the last one was completed (Alex Holtz), I was just in tears, it was so perfect."

The Highlanders turned in a team score of 139.76 for their spot, as Arrowhead defended its title with 144.71.

Wright earned her spot in individual floor competition with a 9.4 score as Sheboygan freshman Caitlin Jurk edged her out with a 9.433.

On beam, Wright turned in a mark of 9.25 for her medal, while Sanduski tied for hers with a 9.217 score. Arrowhead's Kristyn Wood turned in an astonishing 9.617 to win.

Wright missed out on a sixth-place all-around medal by just .050 of a point with a 36.16 score.

In the team competition, floor exercise was indeed the best event of the day for the Highlanders with a 35.7. Wright (9.4), Sanduski (9.23), Holtz (8.567), Stephanie Fazio (8.5) and Amy Schiman (8.13) contributed to the effort.

White noted that Sanduski had a marvelous all-around day in the team competition. Her combined mark of 36.9 could have won the all-around competition in the previous day's individual events.

"That's such a great bounce for her going into next year," said White. "It was also great for Katelyn to end her career this way, with two state medals."

Wright was the only varsity senior for the Highlanders.

Nicolet gymnastics

Leah Fischer concluded her high school career while freshman Jessie Kloehn got a good look at how the state meet works as the Knights finished up their season with the WIAA finale in Wisconsin Rapids last weekend.

Fischer was 17th in floor exercise with an 8.967 effort while Kloehn was 22nd in the same event with an 8.85. Fischer was also 17th in the all-around with a 35.15 mark. She did well in floor exercise (8.967), excellent on balance beam (9.43) and solid on vault (8.767) but had a problem on the uneven bars (7.983) which brought down her all-around total.

It was a strong all-around season for the Knights, who had won every invitational they were in going into the conference and sectional meets.

Nicolet girls basketball

The Knights concluded the regular season on a perfect note, overpowering a stodgy and stubborn Cedarburg squad to finish up the North Shore campaign with a 14-0 mark (19-1 overall).

"We hadn't set this (14-0) as a major goal, but as we moved along through the season, we felt it was a possibility and then set our sights on it," said Knights coach Corey Wolf, "and it was something that motivated us, because we know every time we step on the court, we're going to get the other team's best effort.

"We were definitely challenged tonight."

The Knights earned a first-round bye in the WIAA tournament and will host the winner of South Milwaukee and Milwaukee Custer in a regional final on Saturday (TBA). The regional champion advances to sectional play at Whitefish Bay on March 19.

Nicolet was definitely challenged by Cedarburg (13-8) as the Knights could not get out to their normally fast start and had to settle for a 23-18 halftime advantage.

It was not until the fourth quarter that Nicolet was able to pull away.

"I felt this game prepared us well (for the tournament)," said Wolf. "The kids didn't look at each other. They didn't panic. They handled it perfectly. This was good. We hadn't been pushed in awhile."

Ashley Green had 13 points for Nicolet while Gaby Bronson, Alex Cohen and Brittney Fair all had nine apiece.

 

- Steven L. Tietz